Softball Tops San Diego Again at WISL

LOS ANGELES -
The Santa Clara softball team shut out San Diego 1-0 for its second win over the Toreros in as many days at the Western Independent Softball League Tournament, held this afternoon at LMU Field. The Broncos lost their second game of the day, falling to host Loyola Marymount 2-1 in extra innings.

The Broncos finished round-robin play 2-4 for the weekend's fourth seed. They are 16-39 overall. The Lions lead the tournament with a 4-2 record and are 37-21 overall and will play Santa Clara in the second semifinal tomorrow at 11 a.m. Saint Mary's (27-33) and San Diego (22-34) have identical 3-3 WISL records and will face each other at 9 a.m. in the tournament's first semifinal. The winners of each contest will face each other for the WISL Championship at 1 p.m.

Junior pitcher Deanna Rodriguez threw a one-hit complete game shutout to carry the Broncos to a 1-0 win over San Diego in this morning's opener. It was her second win of the weekend to improve to 8-19 on the season.

Rodriguez struck out two Torero hitters and allowed just two base runners. Sophomore designated hitter Coresta Salas finished the game 2-for-2 and earned a single in the fifth inning for the Broncos. Freshman third baseman Vanessa Werner scored Salas on a single for the game's only run. San Diego hurler Allison Williams pitched a three-hitter, but earned the loss to fall to 5-9 on the season.

In the final game of Saturday's play, the Lions held onto a 1-0 lead against SCU heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. However, a grounder to short by senior left fielder Jayne Whitney scored Werner with two outs to send the game into extra innings.

Playing under the International Tiebreaker rule, the Broncos advanced junior center fielder Sydney Wiginton--who started the inning at second--to third with one out. However, starter Jennifer Heliotes got sophomore short stop Tracie Hall to ground out to second and Salas to strikeout to strand the runner at third to end the Bronco attack.

The Lions took care of business in their half of the eighth, as short stop Kim Bissett sacrificed to advance center fielder Christy Cerecedes to third. Catcher Trisha Gomes hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Cerecedes for the Lions' fourth consecutive win.

Heliotes allowed only one unearned run on four hits to improve to 10-5 on the season. Senior Krista Barry took the loss and falls to 8-19 on the season.